


Dave

by winterspirit13



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: A little, Flashbacks, Fluff, Good Brother Ben Hargreeves, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Klaus learns to control his powers, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Team as Family, Whump, because you know, idk - Freeform, implied but not named, it's Klaus, mostly by wanting to summon dave
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 21:06:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18646123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterspirit13/pseuds/winterspirit13
Summary: prompt: Hey! Assuming you still want writing prompst, Could I request something with the Academy meeting Dave for the first time. Their reactions are up to you and whether Klaus conjured him or he lived and came back to 2019 with Klaus is also up to you if you want. Thankyou!!!Klaus has been sober for months, but Dave hasn't appeared. Ben helps him practice with his powers so that he can finally summon the love of his life - and then Dave gets to meet his family!





	Dave

Klaus had been sober for two months. Two months of abstaining from any substance – not that he hadn’t been tempted. Although withdrawal was over and done with, cravings hadn’t seemed to ever go away. A part of him wondered if they ever would. But even just seeing Five sip something from the bar was enough to make him feel shaky.

Ben was always there, in those times. “You don’t need it, Klaus,” or “Remember why you’re doing this, you know what Dave would want for you.” Ben’s constant support on top of everything had been enough.

And while his siblings’ proud faces were something that made him feel warmer than he had in years, there was a single reason he was doing this: Dave. He was the only one he ever could care about more than himself; he loved him more than he feared the ghosts or needed to fulfill his cravings.

And with all of that free time not being high out of his mind, what better way to spend it than to practice his powers? Ha! If only Dad could see him now. (Klaus realized he must be able to, up there somehow. He flips the ceiling off for good measure. That bastard doesn’t deserve an inch of satisfaction).

That was what he and Ben were doing now. Klaus hadn’t figured out  _why_ he hadn’t been able to see Dave. He was soberer than he had been since he was a preteen, and yet the one ghost he longed to see more than anything (sorry Ben) he couldn’t.

Ben thought it had something to do with the time difference, like how Klaus lost him in Vietnam. He wasn’t so sure about that.

In the meantime, Klaus had just decided to focus on making Ben, corporal. They measured it in games of patty cake. By all means, there had been too many games of patty cake.

But now, the hand on his shoulder, while ghostly, was  _there_. It was Ben. “Klaus, it’s going to work. And I can always just come right back if it doesn’t.”

He fidgeted, “But what if it doesn’t? You don’t leave that often, and while your enthusiasm for sobriety is annoying at best, you have to admit, you are the best-looking ghost I know.”

They were trying to see how well Klaus could summon specific ghosts at will. Klaus supposes he discovered it on accident, being held by Cha-Cha and Hazel. After the angry old lady, he had been able to ask for more to come forward. So now, they were testing that with Ben. If Klaus could strengthen that like the games of patty cake, then maybe bringing Dave back would be easier.

“How would that even happen? That’s not how ghosts work. It’ll work right away or it won’t, there’s nowhere for me to get stuck,” Ben assured him, patient as ever because Klaus was sure he had brought up the same concern at least fifteen times now. He continued, in a softer voice “I’m not going to leave you, Klaus.”

Klaus nodded, waving his goodbye hand in front of his face as if to shoo away Ben. He smiled, and his brother smiled back before he was gone like a blink.

He took a deep breath in and focused.

Nothing happened.

He focused harder.

…It didn’t work.

Groaning, Klaus threw himself on the floor. How was he supposed to know how to do this? Hell, how was he sure he even could? There wasn’t exactly an instruction manual. Absentmindedly he started humming, trying to calm his frustration and focus again on Ben.

Slowly, he could feel his hands hum with energy. Sure enough, when he looked, they were glowing an eerie blue.

“You actually did it!” Ben reappeared, a grin splitting his face. “In like, a minute!”

Propping himself up on his shoulders, Klaus shook his head, smiling back. “Well, fuck me!” The hope that filled him hurt, but he clung to it. He had to keep going, for Dave. He was  _so close_  and god, what would he give to see him – well not alive, but not bloody or unconscious either.

That answer was obvious: whatever he needed.

…

The next week dragged by, as Ben and Klaus stretched the limit of his power. Klaus even relented to the idea of summoning other ghosts, (if they were cool ghosts, and he maybe saved those exercises for when he and his siblings trained as a group. He still couldn’t send them away, but after a few days they seemed to drift back to whatever was holding them there) and for the most part, he was improving quickly.

He was bound to hit a dead end. Ha, dead. Klaus let out a giggle, earning him a concerned glance from Ben. His back against the bed, his hands were shaking and tears were quickly drying on his cheeks.

“Maybe… maybe we take a break now?” He hated the way that Ben’s voice became so quiet. Like speaking too loud would cause him to break.

“No, no! I can do this, I know I can I just… I need to think of him without everything else, fuck this would be easier if I was high!” Klaus ran his trembling hands through his hair. He knew that wasn’t true. Ben knew he knew it wasn’t true, and he didn’t even bother to call him out on it.  

He could think about Dave. The loving moments they shared, the bond they formed. He could even talk about him, too. Just a bit, before it hurt too much. But picturing him as vividly as he knew he needed to had been too hard today, too much. He kept triggering flashbacks, leaving him disorientated and terrified.

Ben sighed. He walked to Klaus’ drawers, a discontented noise escaping his lips as his hand drifted through the living world. With much less effort than it used to take, Klaus made him corporeal, letting him open the middle drawer and pull out a photo.

One of him and Dave that they managed to find, smiling. Klaus was looking towards the camera, but Dave’s eyes were on him, full of love and wonder. Klaus could feel himself tearing up again.

“Try focusing on a moment like this. Just, block everything else out, you don’t have to think of any of the hard parts,” Ben suggested. Klaus took the photo from him, letting Ben fade out from touch. He sat for longer than he needed to, a bittersweet expression hung on his face.

Klaus let himself remember the moment, a peaceful one, as much as it could have been. He stared for what felt like forever, but couldn’t have been more than five minutes, before closing his eyes, channeling his power.

He wasn’t sure what he was looking for. It was easier with ghosts closer to him, or at least ones he had interacted with somehow before. But faintly, he caught it: a soul he knew to be Dave’s.

His eyes squinted shut from the light emanating through his hands. His teeth ground together, body shaking with effort. He pulled and pulled, only consumed with Dave.

“Klaus! Klaus, is that you? What’s – where am I? What’s going on?” Klaus’ eyes snapped open with the sound of the confused, but familiar voice.

“Dave! Dave, I missed you, I-“ what energy he had left went into making him solid so he could collapse in his arms. It wasn’t the exact same, but  _fuck_ , he wasn’t sure he would ever see him again, let alone be in his arms. He was sobbing, and Dave was rubbing his back, and maybe it should be the other way around, but he didn’t care. Dave was here, Dave could be with him, Dave was his.

The crying took a while to calm down, but not as long as the explanations. To his credit, Dave didn’t seem too surprised by the fact Klaus could actually summon ghosts – “You always said you could, love,” he shrugged it away as if it were that easy, to be endlessly accepting – but more that he was from this modern era, and what that entailed. Ben gave them space, although Klaus knew he wasn’t far off at all.

“So, your childhood home?” Dave rose an eyebrow. “You always said you hated it here, you almost seemed relieved to be in a warzone.”

Klaus laughed. “I was! Almost. It’s… it’s different now. Better. My siblings still suck, but we all love each other, is that sweet?” Although his tone veered towards a sickly sweet sarcasm, Klaus knew he meant it. From the looks of it, Dave seemed to know that just as well. God, Klaus had missed him (no thanks to her, obviously).

Dave’s hands caressed his. “Are they here? Could I… well, if you’re alright, I would like to meet them?” His offer was hesitant – ghost rules were still confusing to him, Klaus figured. And maybe, he was almost a bit shy, and maybe that gave his heart so many gay feelings it might burst.

His eyes bright, Klaus pulled Dave down the stairs, all the way to the bar he still really wished wasn’t so full. “Guys! Hey, everyone! Get down here I have something super important and I won’t stop yelling until you’re all heeeerreeee!” Klaus let Dave fade as he shouted. If he was going to do this, it was going to be with a dramatic flair, and no one was going to deprive him of that.

Ben was the first to appear, thanks to his cheating-ghostliness (a voice in his head rang out, “adapting!”, but he ignored it), but then Allison, Diego, Five popping in, Vanya, and Luther, who’s grumbling was silenced by a quick glare from Allison.

“What is it? Is it something to do with Ben?” Five nodded to his currently visible ghost-brother.

Klaus shook his head. “Nope,” he said, popping the “p”. “Who here remembers Dave?”

Recognition flickered in their eyes, for the most part, but Diego was the only one who answered. “He was the loved one you lost, the reason you wanted to get sober, right?”

Klaus smiled. “Bingo! That’s at least,” Klaus pretended to count on his fingers, “Ten good bro points for you.”

“Klaus, stop stalling,” Luther interjected. He sighed.

“Fine, fine.” With that and the slight blue glow of his hands, Dave appeared for his siblings, taking Klaus’ hand. “This is Dave. My official ghost boyfriend – wait, we are boyfriends, right babe?” Klaus faced him, suddenly realizing they never made that a term. And of course it was silly, they were in the middle of a war and it wasn’t really known to be the most accepting place, but still.

Dave looked flustered, clearly not used to the openness allowed, although Klaus had explained it. “Of course. We fought together in Vietnam, and I probably saved his ass more times than I can count.”

Klaus bit back the response he most wanted to say –  _but not as many times as you destroyed it_ , because a voice of reason (it sounded suspiciously like Ben), was telling him that was not the appropriate time and that Dave might be more than a little embarrassed.

“Klaus, I’m so happy for you,” said Vanya, voice sweet if timid. Klaus smiled encouragingly back at her – she had been doing so well since almost destroying the world.

He also had to bite back laughter as Luther stepped forward to shake Dave’s hand. Ben, however, let out a snort, so that was satisfying enough. Why would you shake the ghost’s hand, Luther? It was such an awkward move, but Dave at the least took it genuinely, and there was a bit of pride at least in One’s eyes that made Klaus’ chest swell.  

“Well, thanks for protecting this idiot in the war,” Diego knocked against Klaus.

“He didn’t do so bad for himself,” Dave defended him oh-so-sweetly. Klaus had to smile at that, but he was already smiling and his face just might split.

“Not to ruin the moment, but did you have to bring him back from the past?” Five’s voice was curious, and as Klaus nodded, he saw something spark in his smaller-but-technically-older brother. “I-Okay, not now but I am going to need to ask you a lot of questions about that later.” Klaus saw Five’s fingers twitch, no doubt itching to draft notes, and likely some equation for the situation.

“Of course, dearest brother, but I can’t promise good answers,” he said truthfully. Klaus felt out his powers much more than Five.

“We should all have dinner together,” stated Alisson. “I mean, if you can handle that, Klaus? I’m sure we could all use some time to catch up as well,” she added, her gaze flitting to Ben.

Klaus nodded. He felt drained and exhausted, but there wasn’t much he wanted more. “That’s perfect! Or,” Klaus yawned, “It is if I can take a nap first.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this! I thought this was going to be a short little piece, and it's not too long but I spent more time on it than I expected lol. I hope you all liked it! Nothing is heavily edited, so if there are any glaring issues please feel free to let me know. 
> 
> Kudos and comments give me life! Also if you want to see more of my work, feel free to request something in the comments, or on my tumblr @readingwritingcrying


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